Skinhead Truce Holds

For years, the racist skinhead coalition Hammerskin Nation was in a “blood feud” with a Midwestern skinhead outfit known as the Vinlanders Social Club (VSC), which had the effrontery to challenge the Hammerskins’ once legendary dominance of the national skinhead scene. But there were more Internet threats and name-calling than actual physical confrontations, and in 2007 VSC co-founder Brien James announced that the two clubs had been in meetings and settled their differences.

This summer, the VSC held its first-ever white power concert, entitled “Plunder and Pillage,” drawing more than 50 racist skins to Ohio from around the country. At a recent concert, the VSC’s James was drinking cheerfully with Richie Meyer, president of the Confederate Hammerskins, one of the regional groups that make up the Hammerskin Nation — proof that the truce has held up for four years now.

Vinlanders Ryan Verkennis of Minnesota, James and Lance Roeder of Arizona